fifty shades of dust and clutter

I like this thread. I don't feel 'alone' Being surrounded by clutter is comfy & cosy. Wouldn't be without it! However I had a half a day's notice on saturday of overnight visitors. It's amazing what can be achieved in just a couple of hours. For the first time in ever, the kitchen work tops & dining table were free of stuff. The cushions on the sofa were plumped, the hoover worked its magic - everything was near perfect. The visitors came & went, the clutter mysteriously appeared from nowhere and 12 hours later I was back to normal. Phew, such a relief ....

I have a steam cleaner, it's very good.

Sometimes I even wipe the dust off it and use it, then admire the results

I've got one of those as well Jalima1108 and I do love it. When I bought it I had this picture of me doing all the floors every week (HA!). Still when I do use it I feel very virtuous!

I think I'll go and say hello to it, just to let it know it's not been forgotten

My mum used to swear by two things if there was the “threat” of unexpected guests- empty waste paper bins and as many vases of flowers as she could fill at short notice.

I have friends and relatives whose houses are so neat, tidy and free from books, newspapers, papers and items that speak of their personalities that they are not homes. If you put a belonging down you get the impression that they resent your "mess". I wonder if the fact that order & appearances are so important to these types is down to their lack of self esteem: they cannot bear for others to witness the essential messiness of real life. After all, people and how your surroundings make them feel are more important than things.

I not only said 'hello' to the steamer - I used it!

MawBroon My friend used to say that it was 'surprising what you can do in 15 minutes if you know someone's coming'!

I love everything being clean and tidy, I can't relax in mess and muddle. DH is away at the moment and I'm relishing the peace and quiet in a lovely environment. He's the most untidy individual ever, he has an office you can't even get into because it's full of crap so the dining room table is used for his 'work' - it drives me nuts because we can't even eat at it.
When I came home after 10 days in hospital, and having been told that on no account was I to do anything housework-wise until the consultant says, there were mouse droppings everywhere - I nearly told him to take me back to the cardiac unit.
I sometimes think living alone must be bliss!
His idea of cleaning is to dump the vacuum cleaner in the middle of the living room and wait for it to miraculously do its job ?

In my youth I could transform a mucky playroom/sitting room into a respectable room for grownups to meet. One visitor asked how I'd done it in the time as she'd been round earlier that day. bit of a cheek
It is amazing what you can do if you have to.
Those were the days when we gathered in eachothers houses weekly to discuss an important topic.
Probably these groups have been superseded by book clubs or other interest groups or are they still a feature in some places?
NHR stood for national housewives register so it was already becoming an anachronism back in the 1970s.

Oh well done Jalima1108 I haven't used mine this year!!! You are on your way to earning your clean-freak badge!

The annoying thing is that jobs that get put off for days only take 10 minutes when you actually get round to them.

I then dropped part of my lunch all over my nice clean floor!
Only cheese and biscuits - oh, and chutney, which is what made the mess.

trisher you made me laugh.

My best excuse is - I always have time to get things out and yet not quite enough time to put them away again.

But even I get to a point where I turn into a whirlwind and clear and clean until it all looks beautifully neat again.

However, now I have poor sight so I've had to be a bit more efficient on a regular basis - well, I try - so have de-cluttered and given heaps of things away. The less you have, the less there is to shift

I love my house to be clean and tidy. Children grown up and gone now - so it should be easy. No! Because we're both retired!
For some strange, psychological reason, every time I do a job in the house, husband says, "Do you really have to do that?
Well, there being no housework fairies, Yes, I do!
My biggest gripe is the dining-room table! Laptop, glasses, diary, various books & magazines, unopened letters, ripped-up lottery tickets, screwed-up crisp packets ... Every day!
His response to my moans: "Who's going to see it?"
ME!

When my three were small I remember going to see a friends mother for whatever reason. At that time my Hoover was broken, there was a layer of black dog hairs on a horrible mustard coloured carpet and all the detritus of three little ones. I went to this ladies house and it was perfect and I could have cried. I said how jealous I was of her house and her words stuck with me. She said her happiest times were when her children were young and at home and that I could clear up the house when they leave home. Completely changed my outlook and from then on I made sure I enjoyed the children and didn't worry about the mess.
I would also rather have a messy husband than no husband.

I like my books and things near me. If visitors are coming, a quick vacuum, a bit of a tidy ( thank goodness for cupboards) and clean bed linen, flowers in vases and hey presto.

I love things clean so the kitchen and bathroom are shiny, but everywhere else is comfy, becushioned and with things to do around me.

When a young mum,I remember going to friend's houses which, although they had babies and toddlers, were devoid of any books , toys or pictures. I remember one afternoon was spent just discussing curtains. I couldn't wait to go home.
My house I started tidy, but we live in it, and that is evident by the things around the rooms

Jalima1108 the expression "her floor was clean enough to eat off" isn't meant to be taken seriously you know!
Mind you dining room tables seem to be repositories for anything, so people aren't eating off them either.

My dining table is a 'repository for everything' but I still eat off it. I shove everything N,E and W make a little space big enough for a plate

I quite like clean and tidy but loathe housework, and also find it increasingly tiring as I grow older. DH is not too bad apart from having the dining table covered in all sorts of books, papers,maps,cuttings -you name it. I have to beg him to clear it when anyone's coming to eat, preferably more than 5 minutes before they are due to arrive. He's good at shopping and cooking, but totally hopeless at/unaware of cleaning. I realise this may be a deliberate ploy. I have made DD's promise that, should I die suddenly or become incapable, their first task will be to find him a cleaner, then possibly hire a skip.

Went to someone's house for lunch. She was boasting that she was called 'perfect Pamela' by her friends as her house was always so immaculate. Would only have white flowers in her outside pots anything else was common said she. Everything in the house was matchy, matchy. I took my coat off and put it over the back of her sofa. She asked me to move it as it clashed with her sofa and spoiled the look of her room.

Framilode I hope your house is immaculate enough to invite her back. If it was me we'd have to eat out.

The other thing besides visitors which can prompt a clear out is searching for something.
I have been looking all over the house and attic but all I've done is fill a bin bag with rubbish and hoovered.
The missing thing is still missing.

I shall be seeing a dear friend this morning, it's been such a long time since she came out. Yes folks, the steam cleaner is coming out to play on the kitchen and bathroom floors, so I must prepare myself for a reunion and fun and games. Such as, where did I put the cleaning liquid and trying to remember how to actually fill the thing.... And then the cats will think it's fun to march all over the newly washed floor.....now where did I put the brush?

Jamila my dog would have dealt with your spilt cheese and biscuits before you had time to fetch the mop. He's a living Hoover ready to pounce if any food that is accidentally dropped!